Ginobili to practice full tilt today

By Mike Monroe :
December 2, 2012
: Updated: December 2, 2012 11:31pm

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No Spurs player is looking forward to the practice session Gregg Popovich has set for his players this morning as much as veteran guard Manu Ginobili.

Still seeking post-injury rhythm, feel for the game and consistency that always has characterized his All-Star level of play, Ginobili has been beseeching Popovich for weeks to schedule a practice that will include the five-on-five work he believes he needs.

Ginobili missed the final days of training camp and the first two games of the season because of back spasms. He has struggled to regain his form since, in part because of the lack of practice time.

“Truly, there was not even one scrimmage in the whole month of November,” he said, staring fondly at the practice pronouncement on the white board in the Spurs' locker room after Saturday's 99-95 overtime victory over Memphis. “It is great that we now have the chance to work on some details. We're probably going to have a good practice.

“I needed it like three weeks ago, four weeks ago. But overall, I'm still a little behind, so it's good that we're going to have some time.”

Evidence that Ginobili has yet to regain his form is seen primarily in his shooting percentage. He has made only 58 of 145 shots (40 percent) and 22 of 70 (31.4 percent) from 3-point range.

Team captain Tim Duncan said he will use the days between Saturday's win and the next game Wednesday against Milwaukee “to get my legs back under me, especially after (Saturday's game) and have a couple of days of good practices and get back to the games.”

I want some grunt?: Momentarily famous last spring for admonishing his players to play with some “nasty” during Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City, Popovich had a slightly different message for the Spurs before they took the court Saturday.

According to backup point guard Patty Mills, Popovich told the Spurs they needed to find some “grunt” against the Grizzlies.

“I don't think energy had that much to do with it,” said Mills, credited by Popovich for energizing the team late in the third quarter and into the first minutes of the fourth. “It was just the grunt, like Coach talked about before the game, that we need grunt.

“No matter how much energy you have or don't have, it's just the grunt to need to win the game, and that's all it was in the overtime.”

Assignment: The Spurs assigned two of the team's young guards to their Austin Toros D-League team.

Rookie combination guard Nando De Colo, who started and scored 15 points in the Thursday loss in Miami, played in 13 of the first 18 Spurs games. He averaged 2.5 points and 1.4 assists.

Second-year point guard Cory Joseph was assigned Saturday to the team he helped lead to the D-League title last season, his second assignment in Austin for the 2012-13 campaign. He played in only four Spurs games before his first assignment in Austin, averaging 1.8 points and 1.5 assists.